Chicago officer could face 8-year term for shooting at teens

CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors are seeking an eight-year prison sentence for a Chicago police officer who shot into a car full of teenagers in December 2013, wounding two of them.

Officer Marco Proano was convicted in August of two counts of civil rights violations after prosecutors said he fired into the car as it backed up after being stopped for speeding.

Dashcam video shows Proano firing toward a person inside the car. Proano's attorney, Daniel Herbert, said an officer is allowed by law to use deadly force if he believes the target poses a threat.

In a court filing Monday, prosecutors said Proano could have killed all six teenagers when he fired indiscriminately into the car.

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Proano is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 20. Chicago's former agency that investigated Chicago police misconduct, the Independent Police Review Authority, ruled in August that the department should fire Proano. He has been on unpaid suspension since last year.